I work on technologystartups around the world -- not just
for money, but because I love getting to do things no one has done
before, and working with people who like pushing the limits of what
is possible.

Sometimes this has taken me to really "nice" places, like spending
six months in Thailand becoming a divemaster. Other times, war
zones like Iraq and Afghanistan setting up systems to support
X-rays in hospitals for military and civilian patients. Other
times, Caribbean islands or tiny concrete platforms in the
North Sea
setting up satellite and microwave links for a data haven for unpopular data. I
have lived in a lot of places, and so far, my favorites are
Hong Kong, the
San
Francisco Bay Area in California and Seattle, Washington (hard to choose
one!).

My current big project is a computer security startup in
Palo Alto, and
a lot of non-work time is spent on work-related conferences,
parties, or lunch or dinner meetings, but I hope I will have time
to travel, dive, and take a lot of photos. While I do work hard, no
one has ever accused me of neglecting fun.

I've lost almost everything I've owned about 5 times (moving
between countries on short notice, a flood, etc.), so I tend to not
be terribly attached to specific physical things. I have nice
stuff, and I like it, I just don't become dependent. Right now I
have 2 big storage units full of maybe 20% of my purchases from the
past 10 years that I'm trying to triage, and I'm looking for a home
to rent for the next 3-5 years.

I spend a lot of time thinking about business startups, side
projects, how to make things more efficient or at least more fun,
etc. Pretty much anything unpleasant I have to do, I try to think
of how to automate it, make it more fun, not have to do it again,
etc.

I don't really have typical Friday nights. Sometimes I'm out at a
party (usually a private party, not a bar/club), or socializing
with friends at a restaurant, or driving/flying for a weekend trip.
Other times I'm at the office working all weekend.

Hrm... how about "almost all of the movies/music/etc. I consume are
downloaded". Much less felonious :)

While I've worked a lot in Iraq and Afghanistan, I was against the
war(s) -- regardless of how you feel about war in general, this
just didn't seem like a good way to accomplish our goals, and had a
lot of cost for not much benefit. A lot of people I've met the
military feel the same way.

I just (as of February 2011) moved back to the SF Bay Area (and the
USA) after 1, 2, 6, or 11 years away (depending on how you count
absence). I still have old friends from previous times I lived
here, and am socializing with them, but meeting new people is great
too. It's interesting what has changed and what hasn't!